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3 February 2006

RWA Draft Employment and Enterprise Plan Consultation Ends 28th February / RWA Built Environment Plan sent to Cabinet / AHC Pemulwuy Application to go to Department of Planning / RWA Starts processing Development Applications / REDWatch makes FOI application for Street Team Evaluation Report / Other Human Service Developments / Consultation and Engagement – The Outstanding Issues / REDWatch / No Stabling Yards Meeting - Burren Street Reserve (Children’s Park) Monday 6th February at 6:30pm / The Housing Communities Assistance Program (HCAP) Update / Connect Redfern - Updated Children & Family Services Lists Available

In this Update:

RWA Draft Employment and Enterprise Plan Consultation Ends 28th February

RWA Built Environment Plan sent to Cabinet

AHC Pemulwuy Application to go to Department of Planning

RWA Starts processing Development Applications

REDWatch makes FOI application for Street Team Evaluation Report

Other Human Service Developments

Consultation and Engagement – The Outstanding Issues

REDWatch

No Stabling Yards Meeting - Burren Street Reserve (Children’s Park) Monday 6th February at 6:30pm

The Housing Communities Assistance Program (HCAP) Update

Connect Redfern - Updated Children & Family Services Lists Available

Coming Events (entered on the REDWatch website)


Happy New Year and Welcome to year two of the RWA - our apologies for the backlog that has built up during the Christmas New Year break. 

RWA Draft Employment and Enterprise Plan Consultation Ends 28th February

Since we advised that the RWA had released the Draft Employment & Enterprise Plan (PDF 177kb) for consultation the RWA have released a January RWA Update (PDF 140Kb) outlining some details of the Draft Plan. The RWA Update announces that one part of the plan involves the creation of a hospitality training centre in North Eveleigh specialising in Indigenous Australian Cuisine. Raymond and Jennice Kersh, formerly of Edna’s Table, will spearhead this program along with Aboriginal elder and caterer Beryl Van-Oploo. The enterprise will be known as Yaama Dhinawan which means Welcome Emu in Aunty Beryl’s Yuwaalaraay language.

The Employment and Enterprise Plan will be very important to ensure that all, especially the disadvantaged living in the area, will benefit from the 17,000 jobs the RWA expects to be created from urban renewal in Redfern Waterloo. While the Plan makes it clear this is the RWA’s intention, it is also apparent that with the Commonwealth welfare changes trying to force many parents of school age children and pensioners in the area into employment that the RWA will have a large job ensuring appropriate training and job opportunities for all local people who will need it.

Organisations with experience in job and enterprise creation and training, as well as local residents should take the opportunity to make their comments to the RWA about the draft Plan. We are aware that there is again concern about the lack of consultation involved in the preparation of this Plan but we urge everyone to make constructive suggestions on how the Draft EE Plan can be strengthened. A workable EE Plan is crucial for the area.  Responses need to be back to the RWA by 28th February.

As with the Human Services plan we would encourage people to also send a copy of their submission or comments to REDWatch so your comments can be shared with others. Comments about the EE Plan can also be placed on the REDWatch site at http://www.redwatch.org.au/discussion-forum . In the interests of transparency the RWA should make all submissions for the EE Plan consultation public.

RWA Built Environment Plan sent to Cabinet

The January RWA Update also announced that the draft Built Environment (BE) Plan has been sent to cabinet prior to being put on public exhibition in February for two months. The Built Environment Plan along with the Human Services Plan and the Employment and Enterprise Plan together will make up the Redfern Waterloo Plan.

REDWatch has been told that the Built Environment Plan will be on exhibition simultaneously with a State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) for Redfern Waterloo and other planning instruments will follow. The RWA has said that when the BE Plan is released that proposed land uses, heights and floor space rations will be available so that the community can see exactly what the RWA is proposing and debate the issues.

AHC Pemulwuy Application to go to Department of Planning

The AHC had almost finalised their DA for the Pemulwuy Project when the Department of Planning exercised their right to request the AHC to submit a Project Application (a concept master plan) for the proposed development to the Department of Planning for assessment. Given all the work done to date we are told this is quite a straight forward process and a meeting has been scheduled with the Department of Planning over the PA. The assessment by the Department of Planning will see the project being assessed on the same basis as any other private development project irrespective of who may live in the project or how it might be financed.

AHC CEO Michael Mundine says he is keen to see plans for the future of the Block and the Pemulwuy project finalised this year with the RWA. The release of the RWA’s Built Environment Plan, including proposed land usages, floor space ratios and heights for the Block should provide some indications of what the Minister would prefer to have in the Block precinct. Hopefully both parties will be able to sit down, talk seriously and resolve their differences this year.

RWA Starts processing Development Applications

In October 2005, the Minister for Planning delegated to the Redfern-Waterloo Authority a range of consent authority functions under Part 4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (EP&A Act). These functions include the ability to assess and process Development Applications formerly undertaken by the Department of Planning and a determination role for certain Development Applications. It will only apply to developments which in the Minister’s opinion have a capital investment of not more than $5 million on Redfern-Waterloo Authority sites identified in State Environmental Planning Policy (Major Projects) 2005. In addition, the Director General of the Department of Planning has delegated a number of functions to the RWA. These include the preparation, consultation and adoption of Urban Development Plans and Master Plans under Sydney Regional Environmental Plan 26 – City West. Further information on the delegations can be downloaded from http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statements/2006/delegations060203 (17KB).

In early January the RWA posted the first four Development Applications (DAs) to be handled by the RWA on their website. Readers of the Sydney Courier Central of January 11 will have also found out that two DAs were available for inspection at the Sydney Council’s Redfern Neighbourhood Service Centre although the RWA website still makes no reference to this method of viewing the DAs. The other two DAs not advertised are fit-outs at the ATP that also need to be notified.

One of the DAs covers a proposal to add a Vodafone “phone network facility on rooftop and inside the plant room of the Biomedical Building” at the ATP. From the RWA Development Proposals on Exhibition website you can download the proposal for this DA in pdf form. Exhibition ends 6 February 2006.

The second DA covers the “construction of a pedestrian platform, access structure and sub-station enclosure to service the new Contemporary Performing Arts Complex within the Carriage Works Building and the North Eveleigh site” at the end of Codrington St Darlington. It is regrettable that no electronic copy of this DA is available and currently only the paper version is available for inspection. A quick flick through the documents late one afternoon indicated that what is not mentioned in the advertised notice is that this DA seeks to change an aspect of the DA granted by the City of Sydney in December 2004 for this development. The change reflects the RWA decision to retain the building to the east of the proposed entrance and necessitates the historical documentation and removal of the First Aid Station that sits where the entrance is now proposed. Exhibition ends 6 February 2006.

We have been advised that the RWA is aiming to have PDFs of all DAs available so that they can be easily accessed by residents after hours over the internet. It is imperative that this be done so residents can easily obtain a copy of the DA rather than have to photocopy pages to take away from the service centre.

We have asked the RWA for some clarification on procedures for notification of DA’s and have received the following information from them regarding the DA notification process:

The requirement for advertising and notification of Development Applications within the Redfern-Waterloo Authority (RWA) sites are determined by the:

  • Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979
  • Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulations 2000
  • Sydney Regional Environmental Plan No 26-City West (SREP 26)
  • City of Sydney Notification of Planning and Development Applications Development Control Plan 2005 (City of Sydney Notification DCP)

Over the next few months RWA will be preparing an Advertising and Notification Development Control Plan to replace the City of Sydney Notification DCP and advertising provisions in SREP 26.

RWA policy is for all Development Applications to be notified to the owners or occupiers of adjoining land by way of a letter.

As specified in SREP 26 (clause 51), for development undertaken within sites subject to SREP 26, if the development would cause irreversible harm to a heritage item, or does not confirm to a master plan or would have a significant environmental effect, the Development Application will be also be advertised in the local paper for a minimum of 21 days.

For all other sites (not subject to SREP 26) the City of Sydney Notification DCP will apply and will be advertised in accordance with the DCP.

All Development Applications on exhibition will be posted on the RWA website and the Development Application can be viewed by the public at the Redfern Neighbourhood Service Centre (Tower 2, 1 Lawson Street, Redfern).

REDWatch makes FOI application for Street Team Evaluation Report

You may recall last year we were pushing for the Redfern Waterloo Street Team (RWST) Evaluation to be released. In December 2005 the RWA amended the Human Services Plan to reference the RWST Evaluation as part of the basis for its proposed reorganisation of youth services. It hence became even more important for the community and service providers to understand why this government initiative, praised in the NSW Government Submission to the Inquiry into Redfern Waterloo, failed and what was learnt from this government foray into local youth service provision.

A number of people had been told that at least the Executive Summary would be released even if there were privacy issues with the main report. We have now been advised by the RWA that this report will not be released and that the only way that it will be available is for interested people to request it under FOI. This potentially means those requesting the document pay the RWA an hourly rate to remove any sensitive material in the report so it can be released.

REDWatch has lodged an FOI application with the $30 application fee to the RWA for the RWST evaluation. REDWatch has also asked that the report be made available without the additional per hour costs being charged given the importance of the report and its reference in the Human Services Plan. We will let you know the outcome.

Other Human Service Developments

The RWA appears to have been a bit optimistic about getting the phase two consultations of the Human Services Plan off the ground in December 2005. A proposal for the second round; services for migrant communities, the aged, people with disabilities and homeless people are expected to go to the Human Services Advisory Committee in February 2006. There appears to be a strong view in the community that firm decisions should not be made about the future of Rachel Foster Hospital until the second round of Human Services consultations are completed and proposals as to how these needs are to be met have been planned for.

In December we passed on news that the RWA had indicated a preparedness to write to those who had made submissions about the Draft Human Services Plan to get permission to make their submissions public so the community could see what was presented to the RWA regarding the changes required. To date we have not heard of any letters being received and the submissions have not been released. We would be interested to know for example which submission encouraged the removal of “an independent human services expert, a local person with knowledge of the human services system and a local human services provider” from the Implementation Group. This is especially so as we now hear that the $800,000 from the Street Team will not necessarily be going back into youth services and that the decision about what will happen with those resources will be made by the Implementation Working Group now made up of entirely Government representatives.

In addition to announcing Cabinet’s approval of the Human Services plan the January RWA Update (PDF 140 Kb) announced that a Youth Taskforce had been established by the RWA along with a ‘Street Drinking Taskforce”.  A Midnight Basketball competition, sponsored by the RWA, involving local young people aged 12 to 18 will be run on Saturday nights between 7.30pm and midnight starting 8th February.

Finally outside the RWA there have been some wider changes in DoCS policy which have raised concerns among neighbourhood centres that centres under $1million will be squeezed from the DoCS funding. These concerns have been taken up by Eastern Suburbs, Inner City and Inner West Neighbourhood Centre Forum in a recent letter to DoCS. In other developments an Industry Roundtable meeting held before Christmas 2005 decided to establish a Taskforce chaired by Sir Marcus Einfeld to look the effect of the changes to the sector resulting from the Federal Work Place Changes. A report on this meeting can also be found on the REDWatch website.

Consultation and Engagement – the Outstanding Issues

To have produced three Plans for consultation in just over a year is a Herculean effort by the RWA from a standing start. It shows that the RWA is certainly planning to get things done in Redfern Waterloo. There is concern however that this speed has been made possible at the cost of minimal community involvement in the making of the Plans. The RWA and the Minister have taken the view that consultation is best held around firm proposals, so consultations have largely waited until after the Plan is produced.

There have been many studies done on Redfern Waterloo, including that by the RWPP and the RED Strategy study, so there was much that did not need to be repeated. The RWA has been able to use this material and the governments wider Metropolitan Strategy in formulating their plans for Redfern Waterloo. What is of concern is that prior to the Plans being worked up by the RWA there was no process of community consultation to check the synthesis of the information and to make sure the work started with as complete a picture as possible. Nor was there any process of involving the community in weeding out the problems associated with some of the earlier studies and consultations. Finally there was no community articulation of its own priorities as distinct from the priorities the RWA has in mind. Instead we have fully worked up Plans for public consultation and it difficult to go back and question some of the underlying assumptions, omissions and priorities.

The Human Services Plan was a bit different as there was community meeting and cluster group meetings in the early part of the process but by the time it got into a final form there did not appear to be much room for anything to be changed in the consultation as the various departments had already signed off on the Plan. With the Draft EE and BE Plans there has not been open community input processes. There should be plenty to talk about and it will be possible to see if the RWA will enter into a broad dialogue with the community or if it will try to drive change in Redfern Waterloo with little real engagement with the local community.

Now that there are firm proposals on the table we can expect that the Minister will hold the first of his the promised Community Forums. There are problems with Community Forums as a mechanism for detailed input from the community but this is the mechanism the Minister has chosen for the community to let him know their views. The sooner the Minister starts regular meetings with the Redfern Waterloo communities the better for both the RWA and the community as both can only benefit from dialogue.

REDWatch

Following the January REDWatch meeting with RWA CEO Robert Domm, working groups have been set up to develop a response to the Draft EE Plan as well as considering the BE Plan. If you are interested in being involved in these groups contact Trevor Davies on 0400008338 for the Employment and Enterprise Plan or Geoff Turnbull on 9318 0824 for the Built Environment Plan or make comments by contacting mail@redwatch.org.au

At the February Meeting REDWatch will finalise its submission for the Draft Employment and Enterprise Plan and also discuss the Built Environment Plan that should be released by then.

REDWatch is open to interested residents and friends of Redfern Eveleigh Darlington and Waterloo and everyone is welcome to come along and be involved in the discussion and to get involved in the group. REDWatch next meets at The Factory, 67 Raglan Street Waterloo on Sunday 26th February 2006 at 2pm.

No Stabling Yards Meeting - Burren Street Reserve (Children’s Park) Monday 6th February at 6:30pm

RailCorp has appointed a new Precinct Manager, Colin Coakley, to the Stabling Yards project. Colin will be attending the meeting on Monday to update them on where TIDC is at with the REF process and what happens next. His aim (assuming the project goes ahead) is to find a solution that works for residents and Railcorp. Colin also has meetings scheduled with both the Marrickville and Sydney City councils. For more information on the proposed Stabling Yards see http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/stabling/ or email Kym, Gaynor, Gretchen or Penny on no_stabling_yards@yahoo.com.au

The Housing Communities Assistance Program (HCAP) Update

The HCAP Programme is now operating from the Factory Community Centre. An information sheet has been produced providing some background to what HCAP is doing in Redfern Waterloo. The information can be downloaded from http://www.redwatch.org.au/redw/ngos/hcap/download (Word 91KB).

The Redfern and Waterloo Neighbourhood Advisory Boards bi-monthly newsletter, RedWater News, also will be ongoing with the new HCAP arrangement. RedWater is distributed to every household on the Redfern and Waterloo estates. An Editorial Committee made up of tenants, the HCAP worker, and the worker from the University of New South Wales Community Development Project produce the newsletter. RedWater News publishes articles of interest to tenants including local tenant initiatives, tenancy issues, tenant profiles, local events and activities. Please contact Orna Marks at the Factory on 02 9698 9569 if have any suggestions for RedWater news.

Connect Redfern - Updated Children & Family Services Lists Available

Connect Redfern issue a number of lists (updated at the beginning of each school term) for Children and Family services in Redfern Waterloo. We have posted the most recent listings at http://www.redwatch.org.au/redw/services/connectredfern . If you are looking for local services you can also access major community services databases from http://www.redwatch.org.au/redw/services .

Coming Events

Events are being added to the website as we hear about them. Follow this link to see the coming events:  http://www.redwatch.org.au/events_listing